The fields of exercise, nutrition and weight management are rife with fraud. Multitudes of tricksters, savvy marketing professionals and flat out dishonest people use skillful ploys to hoodwink consumers into handing over their money for worthless or even dangerous advice, products, and procedures. Use of the words fraud or quackery is how health promotion professionals describe these products and programs that contrast with reliable, scientifically based information about health issues.

To identify quackery, look for these signs:

1. Claims that provide solutions that sound "magical" or that present enticingly simple (and logical sounding) answers to complex problems.

2. Distrust of the current methods of medicine or suspicion of the regular food supply, with "alternatives" for sale (providing profit to the seller) under the guise that people should have freedom of choice. Beware of anyone claiming to be persecuted by the medical establishment -it means an amateur is making your diagnosis. "They often try to convince you that physicians want to keep you ill so that you will continue to pay for office visits."

3. Evidence in the form of testimonials, case histories, and other nonscientific support for their claims. These are carefully selected and often use the name of a person who doesn't exist. Everyone is passionate about something. Remember famous personalities are paid big bucks for their support.

4. Evidence from "unpublished studies." Valid scientific studies are published in reputable scientific journals.

5. In tiny print, somewhere on a page, the word "Advertisement".

6. Evidence that is purported to be valid because the person has a M. D. or Ph.D. or "has studied at a reputable institution. (anyone can take audit classes at almost any institution and a job as a lab assistant doesn't mean the individual has done research."

Be a savvy consumer. WATCH OUT FOR THESE: Logic without proof - Motive: personal gain - Authority not cited - Unreliable publication - Fake credentials - Advertisement - Unpublished studies - Testimonials - Suspicions about food supply - Persecution claims - Simple answers - Too good to be true.